Ione Wells: Teenage assailant sentenced to two year detention order

17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will serve half of his sentence in a young offenders' institution

Ione Wells, who is behind the #NotGuilty campaign (Image: Instagram/Ione Wells) (Instagram/Ione Wells)

The teenager who sexually assaulted the author of a powerful open letter on rape has been sentenced to a two-year detention order.

Ione Wells, 20, was grabbed by the 17-year-old man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – as she walked home in Chalk Farm, north London, last month.

The teenager heard today that he will spend half of the two-year sentence in a young offenders’ institution and the remainder under supervision.

Highbury Magistrates’ Court, sitting as a youth court, today heard how the man grabbed Ms Wells, pushing her to the ground and smashing her head against the pavement.

The assault was so vicious that the Oxford student’s bra was ripped in two from the force of the teenager’s attack.

Ms Wells mother, Cindy Wells, had spoken about hearing the assault outside her window and rushing to help the victim – not realising that it was her own daughter.

“I can’t tell you what it was like, it was awful. She was very badly shaken up.

“She’d been kicked a lot and her lip was bleeding, and her face was bruised but I think she’s very, very lucky not to have sustained worse injuries,” Mrs Wells told the Daily Mail.

Ione Wells has launched the #NotGuilty campaign to raise awareness of sexual assault (Facebook/Ione Wells)

In the wake of the attack, Ms Wells waived her right to anonymity and penned an emotive open letter to her attacker. She now campaigns under the hashtag #NotGuilty in an attempt to speak out against the practise of victim blaming.

Additional reporting by Press Association